A molecular biophysicist has just launched a crowdfunding project that will allow you to do CRISPR-based genetic editing at your kitchen table.

Dr. Josiah Zayner, who received his PhD from the University of Chicago where he studied protein engineering, is currently working for NASA, where he is a Research Fellow in NASA’s Synthetic Biology. In his spare time, he has taken to designing and creating kits for people to do the same sort of thing he does. “Budget and funding issues at NASA necessitate that I mostly work alone. I figured there has to be another way where more people can contribute to science,” said Zayner.

CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.” In layman’s terms, this means that we have found a protein (Cas9) that can use an RNA guide to make highly specific cuts in DNA. Unlike many previous editing and engineering techniques, this one is highly accurate and easy to use. (For a backgrounder on CRISPR, check out http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/16/the-gene-hackers.)

“This allows unprecedented abilities to edit and engineer DNA,” Zayner said. “The reason it is such a great synthetic biology tool is the specificity and general applicability. One can target almost any DNA region in almost any organism and the time to do this is an order of magnitude less than before with other genetic engineering techniques.”

Zayner has several kits on offer including a Bacteria DIY CRISPR Kit, a Yeast DIY CRISPR Kit, and some related kits, like creating light-controlled bacteria, and glow-in-the-dark bacteria projects.

If you miss his IndieGoGo project, you can also check out his store at The ODIN.

Space exploration has long been the preserve of astronauts and rocket geeks. Escaping Earth’s gravity is an expensive and often dangerous proposition, so the only way most of us get to experience space is vicariously, either through following NASA’s exploits, or checking out the latest offering at the movie theatre.

At least one organization wants to change that. Called “Mach 30,” the group believes that anyone who wants to visit space should be able to do so.

“We … believe that while government agencies like NASA and private companies like Space X may have similar end goals, their current paths will not lead toward regular space access in our lifetime,” states the website. “We believe the best path to that goal is through sustainable leadership, open source hardware, and the use of mature technology.”

The idea behind open source hardware is to use and adapt readily available hardware designs, create new hardware where necessary, and further, to make the designs for the new and adapted systems freely available to others. Mach 30 has two main projects in development at the moment: a Shepard Test Stand for Estes rocket motors, and a Ground Sphere CubeSat ground station.

To get involved, you can sign up for their free newsletter, make a donation, or get in touch to see how you can contribute to current and future projects. Mach 30 has partnered with the School Factory, and is also working with Southern Stars for their SkyCube project, a nanosatellite launched into space early in 2014.

It’s a project that would make MacGyver proud: a do-it-yourself underwater exploration vehicle.

OpenROV stands for Open Remotely Operated Vehicle, and it is an open-source, underwater robot. Founded by Eric Stackpole, David Lang, and Matteo Borri, OpenROV was originally designed to explore an underwater cave. Following a very successful Kickstarter campaign, the project is now a large community of exploration enthusiasts, makers, DIY experts, and tinkerers who are using the bitty submarine to explore waterways around the world.

The OpenROV can dive to a depth of 75 meters (246 feet), and has a run time of about two hours. Currently at version 2.7, you can drive it using a simple gamepad. The brains of the submarine are located in a Beaglebone onboard computer.

You can buy a kit to build your own robot submarine for around $800 USD. If you’re all thumbs in the some-assembly-required department, no problem: you can also buy a fully assembled version for roughly $1500.

Once you start exploring, you can join a community of OpenROV enthusiasts from 50 countries around the world to talk about your discoveries, your hacks, and your upgrades. Have fun!

Many of the citizen science projects covered on this site are designed to allow anyone to participate. This week, I have one that is designed to pique the interest of those of you in IT: the computer scientists, the developers, and the people who like to think in terms of big data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

In the Climate Resilience Data Challenge, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) want to know how you want to access the boat-loads of data they have available. They are offering cash prizes in this challenge.

“We need tools that utilize big data to help our local communities improve climate resilience, save our ecosystems, and prepare for climate change,” say challenge organizers. “We have climate data that is free and accessible, but much of it is not available through web services.”

In this “ideation” phase, the agencies involved want to know what data infrastructure you need and how you would use it infrastructure to create services and apps. What would you do if you didn’t need to download code or data? Which data sources would you use?

“With growing climate risk, it is evermore necessary to grow innovative capacity for resilience and adaptation. Using open climate data, imagine the possibilities of new applications that could fuel climate resilience efforts for communities and ecosystems as well as empower people to make smart decisions for the future. NASA and USGS invite you to take a step toward resilience by imagining solutions to our planet’s complex climate risks.”

Registration opens on Monday, December 15th. You can learn more about the individual parts of the challenge by clicking the links at the bottom of the Challenge page. Meanwhile, take a moment to check out some of the other open innovation challenges at the TopCoder site.